Muddle
by meg596
Summary: Because together they could muddle through the darkness *warnings inside*


**A/N *TRIGGERS AND WARNINGS* this contains domestic abuse, implied child abuse, implied rape and attempted suicide. There is also a couple of swear words**

Leo wasn't sure when it first started, maybe when he decided that he wanted to spend time with his family, maybe when he finally wised up that he wasn't a slave. It wasn't so bad at first, an occasional insult, withholding kisses and sex. It soon grew worse though, the hits grew more frequent and he was forced to attend to her every command, sexual or otherwise. He knew that it wasn't rape though because boys can't get raped. It wasn't abuse because boys don't get abused. He just knew that it wasn't right, and his family couldn't find out, they wouldn't understand. He thought that he could control it, then she tried to hurt his sister. It was a normal day, she had come around to help Leo babysit, they were in the middle of an intense make out session when Naomi started to cry. Her cries echoed around the room, Leo pulled away from her as she scowled.  
"I'll be right back" he insisted  
"I might be waiting" he sighed and then walked into his little sisters' room. The one-and-a-half-year-old held her arms up to be picked up, when she was she stopped crying. He bounced her up and down, hoping to settle her.  
"Shhhh, Shhhh Naomi you have to be quiet, we have to make sure that Danny doesn't get angry, please, please can you calm down" he begged, the baby seemed to understand as she soon calmed down.  
"Yeah, wouldn't want the phyco to hurt you, now would we?" at the sound of the new voice Leo jumped.  
"Jesus Christ Eddy!" he exclaimed. The home security system shook its head.  
"Leo, why have you let the monster in my house?" he asked. Leo glared at him  
"She's not a monster, she just- "  
"Abuses you? Face it Leo you're nothing more than a punching bag" Leo hung his head, he wanted to argue but Eddy was right. He was her punching bag.  
"Look Eddy, Naomi needs feeding and I know Danny is going to get annoyed just… look if she hurts me that's fine but if she goes for my sister call Bree, she can get here fastest." Eddy promised to what Leo asked as the boy took Naomi to get some food.

When they got downstairs Danny glared at him  
"What is that doing out of bed?" she asked. Leo bristled but kept his temper in check. He placed his sister in her high chair before turning to his girlfriend.  
"I know, she's just hungry, I'll feed her the put her to bed." Danny seemed to ponder this before changing her mind.  
"Orrrrrr we can leave her here and go and catch a movie"  
"Danny, she's a baby"  
"Precisely, how much trouble can she really get into?" Leo began to grow frustrated.  
"Danny, I can't okay? She's my sister, if you want to go to the movies you can, I'll even give you the money." He tried to reason, he could see her slowly begin to grow angry at him though. He tried to keep her calm for Naomi's sake though.  
"Danny, just let me feed her and then we can watch a movie" that seemed to suffice as Leo fed his sister before taking her back to her room, he kissed the sleeping toddler on the forehead  
"Sweet dreams" he whispered and then went back to his girlfriend.

Said girl was tapping her feet impatiently. Leo took this as a bad sign, his beating always started with a tapping foot. He was about to speak when his coat was thrown at him  
"Put it on we're going out" she said, her voice tight. Leo frowned, he'd usually do whatever she asked but he couldn't leave his sister.  
"I can't, you know I can't" at this Danny's face turned sour, her nostrils started flaring and her eyes turned to slits.  
"What is it with you tonight? It's like you're just asking for a beating! That's three times you defied me" Leo began shaking as she shouted. He shrunk back as she walked towards him.  
"Tonight has been all about Naomi! So, come on Leo, what does the precious princess want now?" she spat. Leo remained stood to the spot as he began to hear his sister cry. He wanted to help her, to soothe her mind but his own body wouldn't let him. Danny began to shake in anger  
"For the love of god if you can't shut her up I will!" she screamed, walking up the stairs towards Naomi's room. Leo took after her, screaming for Eddy, suddenly the door to his sister's room slammed shut and locked. Danny froze  
"What the fuck?" she yelled. Leo stood, proud  
"Hurt me all you want but my family off limits" he told her. She growled and grabbed his shirt, pulling him down to her level. He flinched as she spat in his face  
"You are a fucking loser, that girl is no more protected than when the door was open" then she let go of him and ran downstairs, a few minutes later she ran back up with a steak knife. Leo took a step back, she was going to kill him. She took the knife however and started stabbing the lock on Naomi's door, Leo panicked and grabbed her shoulder, only she turned around, the knife aimed directly at Leo's rib cage and stabbed him, when she realised what she'd done she stepped back and paled. Leo fell to the floor. The boy never realised that his older sister had arrived and disabled the younger girl, he never realised when she had rung an ambulance nor when his parents turned up. He never realised that his baby sister was okay, he never realised none of this because he had fallen into sweet, sweet oblivion.

Two weeks later found Leo sat in the hospital as his family crowded around him, he began to feel slightly distracted at the amount of questions he was receiving. He has woken up three days prior and in those three days he had found out his sister was fine, Danny had been arrested, that she had said that Naomi had been locked in her room and they were trying to get her out and she had stabbed Leo accidently, Eddy had shown the footage though. He had shown them much more than that, he had known Leo was being abused, that had been enough to convict her. They just needed Leo to make a statement. The family stayed until visiting hours were over, Bree agreed to stay in the waiting room whilst Leo rested. Later that night she snuck into his room, he looked up, both not saying anything. She just squeezed his hand tightly, she had so many questions but asked none of them as she didn't want to push him. Leo took a deep breath  
"You should go back, Oliver, Kaz and Skylar need you"  
"You need me more"  
"What about the missions?" he asked  
"Family comes above everything, even missions"  
"It shouldn't" he insisted. Bree said nothing, she knew he was right. The mission was top priority, above everything in her life. She pondered it and decided that just this once the mission could go and stuff itself.  
"We saw the scars" she said. Leo hung his head, over the course of their relationship Danny had carved words into his skin with a hot iron, words such as freak, worthless and worst of all Charity case.  
"They aren't true" Bree argued  
"They were… I'm not fully bionic Bree, I'm broken, and you guys aren't. I'm useless to pretty much everyone" Bree wanted to argue, to yell at him that she loved him and that he was worth so much more than he thought but she saw the look in his eyes. He truly believed what he said. Instead she kissed his forehead  
"You are worth so much more than her Leo Dooley" and then together the siblings fell into an accepting silence.

Leo was home a week later, home to brother who didn't believe boys could be abused, one who just couldn't seem to comprehend how he missed the signs and a step father who wondered how he could protect his step sons mind. That was nothing to his mother though, she was hovering by him and refused to let him out of the house. She had found him with a razor to his legs and that was show the argument broke out. The argument only escalated when Leo said he didn't want to press charges  
"Leo this girl, she abused you! If you let her go she'll just continue to hurt, you" Tasha had tried to argue.  
"Yeah beside she could do this to someone else" Donald reasoned. Leo shook his head  
"Leo, she hurt Naomi, do you not care about her at all?" Adam asked. The room fell silent  
"Of course I fucking care Adam, she's my sister!"  
"Language!" Tasha reprimanded. Leo's face turned red  
"Mum! They said I don't care and the thing you care about is my language! Look I can't do it okay!"  
"What?" Chase asked.  
"Because I love her, and she loves me" at this Adam erupted.  
"No, she doesn't! she used you like a punching bag and you let her! You couldn't stand up for yourself an because of that Naomi almost got hurt" the room turned to Adam who began to shake in anger. When their attention was diverted Leo took this as his que to leave.

He could hear the houses occupants looking for him, yet he remained where he was. The quiet calmed him, he felt a presence behind him as she sat down.  
"Adams sorry" she said. Leo shrugged, he couldn't care less because he knew the truth, he wasn't being abused he was just being dramatic. She did the things she did because she was angry, and he made her that way. It was his fault, everything was his fault.  
"You have to press charges" she said. Then he thought of Naomi and how she was innocent how he nearly hurt her. He thought about how she would have been left alone If he had been strong enough to stand up for her.  
"She loved me" he insisted  
"I know" Bree reassured him. Leo could begin to feel tears ran down his face  
"I deserved it" he tried, she smiled lightly  
"I think we both know that's not true"  
"I'm an awful brother" he admitted. Bree pulled him into a hug  
"You taught us about the world and protected Naomi, how are you a horrible brother?" he hung his head and began to sob.  
"I love her"  
"I know"  
"Why don't they?" she pondered it for a minute. She knew that Leo was hurting and wanted nothing more than to take away all his pain, but she couldn't, so she decided to answer his question instead.  
"They do, they just can't imagine being in a relationship that's so toxic" Leo looked up.  
"Can you?" he asked. She looked down, her hands glowing. She supposed she could, her powers were cool, but they weren't her, as she looked at Leo she realised he understood.  
"Maybe we can be messed up together?" he suggested. She smiled and nodded, grabbing his hand.

Later that night Adam apologised and told him that he believed Leo was abused, he said he didn't because he didn't want to believe he failed as a brother. Leo had grinned and said it was okay but as he looked to his older sister that was asleep next to him he couldn't quite bring himself to believe it.

Before Leo realised it, he was in court, describing every dirty detail that his ex-had done to him, from branding him, withholding sex and then forcing herself on him. How she had beat him black and blue and threatened his family. He told them how he failed. He then had to listen to Bree's account of that night and to how his ex-accused him of being an abuser himself. He listened and listened but eventually decided that this was too much and walked out, he needn't be there for the other testimonies. When he got back he found out she had been sentenced to six years in prison and two-year probation and was not allowed the Davenport/Dooley family again. Leo wanted to feel relived, but he just felt sick, this was over physically sure but mentally he would never be sane.

It was many weeks later, weeks of healing and crying and bonding. It was weeks later he figured out just what Bree meant when she was screwed up too. He had received a call to get to the penthouse, he was shocked because he had never been invited there. Adam had gone ahead, and Leo had told the students to take the weekend off as Douglas would be looking after them.

As he reached the penthouse he found Oliver outside, he gave the man a kurt nod  
"Where is she?" he asked, Oliver directed him to the medical bay where he found his brothers.  
"What's going on?" he asked. They turned to him, a steely look in their eyes.  
"She asked for you, only you" Chase said. He glanced at the door  
"Why?"  
"You tell us" Adam replied. Leo shook his head and walked forward, his sister needed him. He found her at up in bed, a worried Davenport beside her, when he saw Leo he began to walk out, only to stop beside his step son.  
"Help her… please" he pleaded, Leo nodded, and his father figure left them behind. He walked over to her, grasping her hand. She smiled at him  
"I missed you" she admitted. He hummed in agreement. She could tell he was waiting so she caved.  
"I tried to kill myself" he said nothing, waiting for her to elaborate  
"I... I didn't realise what kind of things these powers would do, and I nearly killed Chase" Leo looked up at that.  
"Would killing yourself resolve the issue?" he asked. She shook her head  
"Then it was a pretty stupid solution" she nodded in agreement. He hummed a tune to her, the tune to you've always got a friend in me. The room began to stifle her as she blurted out  
"I'm leaving" if she expected him to be shocked she was going to in for a surprise. He just looked at her as if to say, 'I know', she stared at him, waiting for him to elaborate. He just pulled out two train tickets.  
"I don't know what your plan was, but I knew you were going to leave"  
"How?" she asked.  
"Because I was a too and we are much more alike that others think, you hurt others and so do I… I know you didn't plan on me coming with you, but I have to" she nodded at him an pulled him into a hug.  
"What do we do now?" she asked. He stared at her  
"For now, you rest in two weeks' time meet me at the train station, bring a bag, I'll dismantle the speed inhibitors I'm sure big D is putting up and we can leave" she nodded and he turned to leave, she called out his name, he turned to her.  
"Thank you" he nodded and left her behind.

Two weeks later the pair were stood at the train station, bags in hand as they set off into the unknown.


End file.
